Beryl Var. Emerald on Calcite

Unknown Owner

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This is a very dramatic piece with a central emerald flanked by "wings" of crystallized calcite. The 2.8-cm-tall emerald is of top color and glassy luster, and is very large for such a specimen. It is entirely transparent throughout, though with internal veils as usual in a specimen. You can see righ tthrough it to the underlaying matrix! The emerald is complete, and undamaged per se, though it has a small natural contact in the upper-left that is visible (only) on close inspection and does not visually detract. However, because of this very slight growth imperfection, and the fact that I got this reasonably in a trade, the price is about half or a third what you would normally expect to pay for a 1-inch-plus emerald in crystallized matrix of such quality. The calcite is as remarkable, also of unusual size for crystals from this mine. The combined contrast of colors and geometry is striking. Most desirable emerald specimens MUST be on the crystallized matrix, and of the various styles most people consider dark calcite to be the more desirable because it serves to enhance the hue of the emerald. This piece, interestingly, has both dark and white calcite, providing a very neat double-color contrast to the emerald itself.